The growth illusion

Here is another fantastic post by Frances Coppola. Anyone waiting on the market to get back to how it used to be should read this and accept things are NEVER going to be the same. Accept it so you can plan your life and business accordingly!

"Let's face it, we are in a mess. According to the BIS, the UK is the most heavily-indebted nation in the developed world, with total public and private debt amounting to something like 350% of GEP. Our economy is on the floor, unemployment is rising (particularly among young people) and would be even higher if it weren't for the fact that people are taking part-time jobs instead of the full-time ones they really want. Housing is still overvalued, first time buyers and young families can't afford to buy properties, and even if they could banks don't want to lend to them. Fuel costs are astronomical, food costs are rising, wages are flat. Businesses are going bust and individuals are going bankrupt.

Even worse is what's happening across the Channel. I, for one, am exceedingly glad that the UK did not join the Euro, which appears to be intent on blowing itself apart with an explosive mixture of market panic, economic mismanagement (by everyone, not just Greeks) and political inertia.

And then there's the US, with chronically high unemployment, welfare and healthcare systems that are very expensive and frankly unfit for purpose, a defunct housing market and debt that if stacked up could reach the moon - and a total lack of political will to deal effectively with any of this.

And then there's Japan....how long has that been bumping along the bottom now? Still paying the price for a housing bubble collapse and banking crisis two decades ago, not to mention recent natural disasters and an ongoing nuclear standoff.

And then there's China, which seems well-placed to become the overlord of the world - if it doesn't fall apart in a subprime crisis of its own first......"

Read more....